BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen has appointed Audi's former development chief to take the reins at Bentley and Bugatti, the third top management change at the two ultra-luxury auto brands in just over three years. Wolfgang Duerheimer, sacked as Audi's R&D boss last June over differences with staff, will become head of Bentley and Bugatti on June 1, replacing Wolfgang Schreiber who will assume "a leading role" within the VW group, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer said...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen has appointed Audi's former development chief to take the reins at Bentley and Bugatti, the third top management change at the two ultra-luxury auto brands in just over three years. Wolfgang Duerheimer, sacked as Audi's R&D boss last June over differences with staff, will become head of Bentley and Bugatti on June 1, replacing Wolfgang Schreiber who will assume "a leading role" within the VW group, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer said...

Bugatti's back: Bugatti, the exotic Italian sports-car maker whose very name drips money, is returning to the U.S. market this year with its EB110GT, a superfast toy for the seriously rich. How much? Try $400,000-including gas-guzzler and federal luxury taxes. Bugatti expects to make about 50 of the handbuilt cars a year, selling 20 in the United States. It will display the car at the Chicago Auto Show from Feb. 5-13.

Chicago engineer and product designer Michael Mercier has his sights set on manufacturing the Bugatti of hovercraft, a vehicle that can traverse land, water and ice, with a base price tag of $75,000. It looks like the Batmobile floating on a black inner tube. "The industry itself has been stuck on one path without much progress," Mercier said. "I really wanted it to feel more like a supercraft, more like a sports car, than anything a conventional...

$1M:French carmaker Bugatti debuted its Veyron 16.4 at the Monterey Historic Auto Races over the weekend. The car, which Bugatti says can reach 252 m.p.h., will sell for more than $1 million. ---------- Edited by RedEye staff (ritaredeye@tribune.com)

The most expensive car on display at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show is also the most ridiculous, but not just because of the multimillion dollar price tag. It's because of the power. Few drivers would be able to handle what Bugatti is offering. It's ridiculous. The 2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 on display at the Chicago Auto Show has an 8-liter, QUAD-turbocharged (who needs twins), 16-cylinder engine with four-wheel drive. It explodes 1,001 horsepower that reaches...

With more than 1,000 cars, trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles on display at the Chicago Auto Show in McCormick Place, you'd think it would be difficult to stand out in the crowd. But some distinguish themselves from the rest. Such as: - Most expensive: The Bugatti EB110 GT, a two-seater sports car carrying a $450,000 price sticker on the window and a 3.5-liter, 60-valve, 560-h.p. V-12 engine under the hood. - Fastest: The Bugatti again,...

Life is different driving 200 miles an hour. The magnitude of what you're doing — traveling fast enough to lift a loaded Boeing 747 off the ground — is belied by a surprisingly calm environment. It's quiet, almost, save for some low wind rushing over you and the frantic whir of whatever engine got you there. Outside, the landscape moves past you and the horizon toward you with an ethereal alacrity that's similar to rushing out of a dream. Yet at the risk of stating the obvious, a 200 mph...

Bored with your Bugatti? Upset because your neighbor has an identical Ferrari? Most luxury automakers can take care of that. They will customize your vehicle-even from the ground up-to ensure that you've got one-of-a-kind wheels. "If you've got the money, anything is possible," said Jackson Pike, sales and dealer operations manager for Lotus Cars U.S.A., owned by Italian exotic-carmaker Bugatti. He notes that requests have come in for custom versions of the $350,000 Bugatti EB110, which debuts here...

$1M:French carmaker Bugatti debuted its Veyron 16.4 at the Monterey Historic Auto Races over the weekend. The car, which Bugatti says can reach 252 m.p.h., will sell for more than $1 million. ---------- Edited by RedEye staff (ritaredeye@tribune.com)

Adults are beating a path to a local children's specialty shop to play with the toys. These, however, are no ordinary plastic dolls or car models that are sending grownups into second childhood. They are exquisite reissues of historical tin toys by a small Spanish factory, Paya, which was founded circa 1906 in the village of Ibi. By the 1920s, Paya made toys as good in quality as the German, French and English toymakers, and became renowned for its Bugatti cars and scale model trains.

Climbing the misty hills to Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca and the Monterey Historic Automobile Races is an expedition to Gearhead Shangri-La. Ten miles east of the expensively cute fishing village of Monterey, 100 miles south of San Francisco, all highways snake into the ochre slopes of the coast range. The signposted back road chugs uphill through Ft. Ord's foggy scrubland until it bursts into sunlight, the temperature jumps 20 degrees and the 2.24-mile track is laid out below like a very noisy model.

Volkswagen AG has declined to comment on a report it would soon take control of Italian sports carmaker Lamborghini S.p.A. Automotive News Europe said Volkswagen's Chief Executive Ferdinand Piech met Lamborghini Chief Executive Vittorio Di Capua at the Turin Auto Show last month. It also said final negotiations could be complete within four weeks. "We are not commenting on this," said VW spokesman Kurt Rippholz. Lamborghini, which sells some of the world's fastest cars for more...

Volkswagen AG is close to buying sports car brand Bugatti, a German newspaper reported, paying an estimated $50 million as it completes its push into the top end of the car market weeks after acquiring Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini. VW and Bugatti International declined to confirm details in the report by Germany's Bild-Zeitung, which cited people close to the company. VW acknowledged it's in talks, while Bugatti said it has other suitors. The bankrupt Italian carmaker stopped producing cars in...

Chicago engineer and product designer Michael Mercier has his sights set on manufacturing the Bugatti of hovercraft, a vehicle that can traverse land, water and ice, with a base price tag of $75,000. It looks like the Batmobile floating on a black inner tube. "The industry itself has been stuck on one path without much progress," Mercier said. "I really wanted it to feel more like a supercraft, more like a sports car, than anything a conventional...

Volkswagen AG has declined to comment on a report it would soon take control of Italian sports carmaker Lamborghini S.p.A. Automotive News Europe said Volkswagen's Chief Executive Ferdinand Piech met Lamborghini Chief Executive Vittorio Di Capua at the Turin Auto Show last month. It also said final negotiations could be complete within four weeks. "We are not commenting on this," said VW spokesman Kurt Rippholz. Lamborghini, which sells some of the world's fastest cars for more...

A collection of 17th Century spearheads attributed to the Marlik culture from Phoenicia rest on a magnificent late Roman/early Byzantine mosaic from Syria for which an iron base was crafted to create a magnificent table. Primitive? Yes. Rustic? Somewhat. Elegant? By all means. A walk through the rest of this city penthouse duplex is no less fascinating because it illustrates how simple, spare and sometimes unexpected materials can assume an elegance that is every bit as compelling as more decorated objects.

Adults are beating a path to a local children's specialty shop to play with the toys. These, however, are no ordinary plastic dolls or car models that are sending grownups into second childhood. They are exquisite reissues of historical tin toys by a small Spanish factory, Paya, which was founded circa 1906 in the village of Ibi. By the 1920s, Paya made toys as good in quality as the German, French and English toymakers, and became renowned for its Bugatti cars and scale model trains.

Volkswagen AG is close to buying sports car brand Bugatti, a German newspaper reported, paying an estimated $50 million as it completes its push into the top end of the car market weeks after acquiring Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini. VW and Bugatti International declined to confirm details in the report by Germany's Bild-Zeitung, which cited people close to the company. VW acknowledged it's in talks, while Bugatti said it has other suitors. The bankrupt Italian carmaker stopped producing cars in...

Bored with your Bugatti? Upset because your neighbor has an identical Ferrari? Most luxury automakers can take care of that. They will customize your vehicle-even from the ground up-to ensure that you've got one-of-a-kind wheels. "If you've got the money, anything is possible," said Jackson Pike, sales and dealer operations manager for Lotus Cars U.S.A., owned by Italian exotic-carmaker Bugatti. He notes that requests have come in for custom versions of the $350,000 Bugatti EB110, which debuts here...